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Journal entries from the three of the men listed as being in attendance, Samuel Bateman, George Q. Cannon, and L. John Nuttall (scribing for President Taylor), have been published and none mention important meetings being held that day or the days before or after. [1]
Thirty-five years later in the early 1920s, Lorin Woolley first mentioned the meetings. Keeping the meeting secret was not required so these decades of silence are puzzling.
In the 1920s Lorin C. Woolley recalled an eight-hour meeting attended by thirteen people where the 1886 revelation was purportedly received followed by a five hour meeting where special priesthood ordinations were performed. According to Woolley, five men along with John Taylor, and a resurrected Joseph Smith attended the second meeting.
In 1929, Daniel Bateman remembered the eight-hour meeting, but never explained why he had never mentioned it before. He plainly stated he was not present for the second meeting and saw no ordinations.
Only Lorin Woolley left a record concerning the ordinations. The other eleven men and women reportedly in attendance at the first meeting and the five other men listed as being at the second meeting left no records at that time or anytime thereafter. Woolley’s voice is the only voice standing as a witness of these ordinations.
Lorin Woolley’s 1929 account reports that after writing the original, John Taylor had five additional copies made:
After the meeting referred to, President Taylor had L. John Nuttall write five copies of the revelation. He called five of us together: Samuel Bateman, Charles H. Wilkins, George Q. Cannon, John W. Woolley, and myself. . . . He then gave each of us a copy of the Revelation. [2]
None of the five copies referred to have ever been found. If there were no meetings that day, then when and how was the revelation found? Apostle John W. Taylor testified that he found the revelation on his father’s desk after his death, the following year. John W. Taylor mentioned no special meetings in connection with the revelation. Who were the thirteen people Woolley listed as attending?
Lorin Woolley recalled:
President Taylor, George Q. Cannon, L. John Nuttall, John W. Woolley, Samuel Bateman, Charles H. Wilkins, Charles Birrell, Daniel R. Bateman, Bishop Samuel Sedden, George Earl, my mother, Julia E. Woolley, my sister, Amy Woolley, and myself.[3]
Woolley recalled that during the meeting, John Taylor “put each person under covenant that he or she would defend the principle of Celestial or Plural Marriage, and that they would consecrate their lives, liberty and property to this end, and that they personally would sustain and uphold that principle.” [4]
According to the account:
He [John Taylor] called five of us together: Samuel Bateman, Charles H. Wilkins, George Q. Cannon, John W. Woolley, and my self. He then set us apart [5] and place us under covenant that while we lived we would see to it that no year passed by without children being born in the principle of plural marriage. We were given authority to ordain others if necessary to carry this work on, they in turn to be given authority to ordain others when necessary, under the direction of the worthy senior (by ordination), so that there should be no cessation in the work. He then gave each of us a copy of the Revelation.
The documented behavior of the thirteen individuals attending the eight hour meeting in 1886 does not seem to support that they sought to keep the two covenants Lorin Woolley described. Especially surprising are the actions of the five men. See the chart below:
Thirteen individuals listed as attending an eight hour meeting on 27 Sep 1886 | Death | Sep 1886–Sep 1890 New Plural Wives |
Sep 1886–Sep 1890 Children in plural marriage |
Sep 1890–Apr 1904 New Plural Wives |
Sep 1890–Apr 1904 Children in plural marriage |
After Apr 1904 New Plural Wives |
After Apr 1904 Children in plural marriage |
Left record of a 27 Sep 1886 8-hour meeting? |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
John Taylor | 1887 | 1 | 0 | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | No |
George Q. Cannon | 1901 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 1 | n/a | n/a | No |
John W. Woolley | 1928 | 1[6] | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | No |
Lorin Woolley | 1934 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1912[7]–1920s |
Samuel Bateman | 1911 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | No |
Charles H. Wilkins | 1914 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | No |
L. John Nuttall | 1905 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | No |
H. Charles Barrell | 1908 | 0 | 0 | 1[8] | 1 | 0 | 0 | No |
Daniel R. Bateman | 1942 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1929 |
Samuel Sedden | 1924 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | No |
George Earl[9] | 1956 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | No |
Julia E. Woolley | 1892 | 0 | 0 | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | No |
Amy Woolley | 1921 | 0[10] | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | No |
This chart tabulates the men's involvement with new plural wives and plural children after the 1890 Manifesto.[11]
In addition, Amy Woolley, Lorin’s sister, began her own journal just weeks later, but her entries do not reflect a compulsion to sustain plural marriage.[12] In fact, when Lorin Woolley began fighting church leaders in the 1920s regarding polygamy, Amy distanced herself from her brother, staying with the church.
Notes
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